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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 21, 2009)
Medical Marijuana Reversal Morning Star Revival Feds won’t go after patients who comply with state law Burned out church begins to rebuild See story, page A3 See story, page A2 ©'’33ortlan&<©b0Eruër l'I ROSt’S ,^4 L r(n U h rk „ J Committed to Cultural Diversity Volume XXXVIV. N um ber 41 .Week in lhe Review Walton Apologizes A tearful Bill W a lto n a p o lo g iz e d to P o rtlan d Trail Blazers fans Friday 30 years af te r le a v in g the team he led to its only NBA championship. The 56-year-old said he regretted the circum stances in w hich he left the Blazers fam ily and hoped to m ake things better in the fu ture. Jobs May Not Return Even with an econom ic revival, many U.S. jo b s lost during the recession may be gone forever and a weak em ploym ent market could linger fo r years. See sto ry , page A2. Portland Jobless Jumps The unem ploym ent rate in Port land rose to 11.7 percent in Septem ber, up from 11.4 per cent in A ugust. O fficials said an estim ated 127,(XX) area resi dents were looking for work, com pared to 60,6(X) more than one year ago. Michelle to go on Leno y» F irs t L ad y J 3* M ic h e lle Obama will be «■T a g u e s t on “T h e Ja y L eno Show w on F rid a y night. O bam a will check in via satellite forthe “Ten @ Ten" segm ent, where she’ll answ er a series o f 10 questions from Leno. Beyonce Delays Show R&B star Beyonce K now les has postponed a planned con cert in M alay sia, the event o rg a n iz e r said M onday, follow ing ac cusations by Islam ic con s e rv a tiv e s that the show w ould be imm oral. Fem ale art ists at M alaysian concerts are required by governm ent rules to cover up from the shoulders to knees. Flu Vaccine Runs Short The C enters for D isease C on trol and Prevention said Friday that it anticipates a sm aller allo cation than expected o f the H 1N 1 vaccine during O ctober due to a slow er m anufacturing process. See story, page A3 Hospitals Restrict Visitors H o sp itals around the c o u n try are tu rn in g aw ay visitin g ch ild ren and tig h ten in g re strictio n s on ad u lts in hopes o f lim itin g the spread o f the H 1N 1 flu. O th ers are posting signs th at urge people o f any age to postp o n e that visit if they have a sn iffle or cough. College Tuition Climbs A v erag e tu itio n at fo u r-y ear p ublic co lleg es in the U .S. clim bed 6.5 percent to $7,020 this fall as scho o ls passed on m uch o f th eir ow n financial p ro b lem s, a c c o rd in g to an annual report from the C o l lege Board. years* community service ! r. I ( 1 7 f l ............,1 I „ J „ U Established in 1970 www.portlandobscrver.com Wednesday • October 21, 2009 Police, Fire or Ambulance... A im to diversify has m ixed results by J ake T homas T he P ortland O bserver fthe over 100 academic program s at Portland C om m unity C ollege, m aybe none have m ore direct bearing on p eop les’ lives than its em ergency services cu rricu lum, w hich train the next gen erations o f fire fighters, 91 1 dis patchers, m edical technicians, and others. A nd th a t’s w h y P C C has p ilo r o by J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver been w orking to increase diver Kai Robertson is the director o f emergency services programs for the Portland Community College Cascade Campus. sity in these program s, so that The Fire Protection Program, dents accustom ed to w orking Hispanics, and African A m eri m inority com m unities can be how to com m unicate and get in touch with their com m unities in which trains firefighters, used with minorities. The dum m ies cans that moan, groan, and cry. best served in tim es o f distress. an em ergency situation. to be housed out in Gresham , used to train em ergency m edi “O u r stu d en ts, in O regon, However, the college still has but was moved in 2003 to PCC’s cal technicians are designed to might no, com e in contact with “It ju st helps to m ake the re w ork to do to m ake sure these Cascade Cam pus, which is lo resem ble both black and white a dark skin person until they are lationship a lot stronger and a p ro g ra m s re fle c t th e p eo p le cated in one the m ost diverse people. in the field," said Robertson. lot better,” she said. they serve. parts o f Portland. PCC has taken steps to d i R o b e rtso n said th a t o n ce Results from their efforts, so Kai R obertson, the director versify the ranks o f students “It’s not by accident at all," P C C e x p a n d s its f a c ilitie s , far, have been a mixed bag. o f the em ergency services pro A ccording to data provided gram s fo r the PC C C ascad e studying in em ergency service said Ed Lindsay, who chairs the thanks to a $374 m illion bond Cam pus in north Portland, ex fields by doing outreach with program, o f the program ’s loca passed by voters las, N ovem by PCC, the num ber o f m inori ber, it will build a realistic sim u ties in the college's Emergency plained that it’s im portant to high schools with high concen tion. T he college has also taken lation lab featuring life-like dum have m inorities in these posi trations o f minorities, non-prof continued on page AN tions because they know best its, and m inority com m unities. sm all steps to get w hite stu mies in the likeness o f Asians, Food Stamp Demand Unprecedented Each day sees 540 new recipients e w figures released from the Oregon Department o f H u m an S e rv ic e s show that assistance to Oregon fam ilies through food stam ps is unprecedented and officials ex pect to see continued grow th in the need for assistance to indi viduals and families. S in ce O re g o n 's e c o n o m ic dow nturn began m ore than a y ear ago, the nu m b er o f food s ta m p r e c i p i e n t s h a s i n creased by nearly 34 percent. T h ere w ere 4 8 2 ,4 0 7 in d i viduals on food stam p s, fo r m ally ca lled the S u p p lem en tal N utritio n A ssistan ce P ro gram in Ju ly 2008, and that n u m b er in creased to a total o f 6 4 5 ,2 3 4 in d iv i d u a ls la s t m onth. F ood stam ps are funded by fed e ra l d o lla rs, an d O re g o nians are receiv in g an ad d i tional $247 million through the A m erican R eco v ery and R e in v estm en t A ct. S tate o ffic ia ls said the in crease help ed in tw o w ays - by p ro v id in g m ore reso u rces to help peo p le w ho are fe e l in g th e im p a c t o f th e e c o nom ic d o w n tu rn and by p u t tin g a d d itio n a l m oney back into the local econom y. "W ithout th ese federal d o l lars w e w ould not be able to help all the people w ho need us and co m m u n ities w ould be sta m p b e n e fits. In o rd e r to k eep up w ith th e in c re ase d pace, the C hildren, A dults and F am ilies D ivision a, DHS has transform ed its intake process | to reduce w ait tim es and elim i Dr. Bruce Goldberg s tr u g g lin g m o r e ,” sa id Dr. B ruce G o ld b erg , d ire c to r o f th e O re g o n D e p a rtm e n t o f H um an Services. O ver the pas, 15 m onths, an average o f 540 new recipients per day received S N A P /food partn er organizations, such as fo o d b an k s an d fa ith -b a se d organizations, for their help in a d d r e s s in g h u n g e r in th e state. "It takes all of us in our com m unities to ensure that O rego nate backlogs. "T he se rv ic es we p ro v id e n ian s m eet th e ir m ost basic touch the lives o f m any O r need - food for their families," eg o n ian s every day, and that she said. Like food stamp benefits, de is w hy it is so im portant that w e co n tin u e to do o u r jo b s m a n d fo r c a sh a s s is ta n c e w ell. B ecause o f o u r strea m through the Temporary A ssis lining efforts, O reg o n ian s re tance for Needy Families pro ceive th eir b en efits an a v e r gram has also increased since age o f nine days so o n er than las, year. In September, a total of 24,632 th e y d id b e f o r e . In m o st p la c e s a c ro ss th e sta te , it's families with children received sam e-day service," said Erinn tem p o rary assistan ce in O r K e lle y -S ie l, d ire c to r o f the egon, an increase o f 22 percent D H S C h ijd re n , A d u lts an d o ver last year. The program , Fam ilies D ivision. continued on page AN K e lle y - S ie l a ls o p ra is e d Local Students Give Back At Self Enhancement, kids learn values bv J ake T homas T he P orti ani ) O bserver W ho says teenagers are apathetic? A, Self Enhancem ent Inc., a non-profit acad em y in north Portland, five 8th graders have s p e a r h e a d e d an e f f o rt to g a th e r fo o d fo r P o rtlan d 's neediest residents, and learned to appreciate w hat they have in their own lives. T h e in itia tiv e d u b b e d “ G o t F o o d ? L e t's Share!” grew out o f a class discussion on ways to give back to the community. LaVeme G reen, the students’ teacher, asked w hat students w ould do for others once they were ou, o f school. The students decided now was the tim e to give back, and began organizing a food drive. Five students formed a com m ittee to com plete the effort, and divided up the work am ong them selves. The school had made a sim ilar effort las, year that d id n 't go well, bu, this year was different. continued on page A3 photo be J ake T iiomas /T iie P oru and O b siraer Students Tressina Eddinger (from left), Marlando Sparks, Daytreiona Jackson. Delmody Tillman and Naiqwan Penn are leading an effort at Self Enhancement Inc. to get food for the needy. «